But this weekend another light in my kitchen blew out. Incandescent spots are cheap, and the light they put out is perfect. The CFL spots? Expensive and shitty light quality, plus I’ve yet to get the lifespan out of a CFL that they promise.

Not only do the casings on these things look better than the contractor grade cans we had, the light is SUPERB. The color is perfect, it’s even a little bit brighter than the 65W incandescent lights we had, and they only use 9.5W. Even after being on for hours on end, you can reach up and touch them – they remain just *slightly* tepid in temperature. This means less waste heat that the AC has to combat for an additional energy savings.

If the longevity of these bulbs work (5 years), then the additional cost is *well* worth it both in energy savings and replacement costs. I’m glad to see LED lighting come down in price somewhat (there are still über-expensive models out there that don’t make financial sense) and I’d be even happier if I could make the decision on my own rather than having the government force me to purchase something I may not want. However, if the LED lights stand up to the test of time, then there would be no need for Uncle Sam to demand I give up incandescents as I’d do it voluntarily.

For our light bulbs that either stay on for long periods of time or are switched on and off frequently, I have been swapping in LED bulbs of appropriate brightness. The better-quality ones put out a much more pleasant light than fluorescent bulbs and as a bonus, dropping one on the floor probably won't break it, let along necessitate calling a hazmat team for disposal.

For what it's worth, I still have the first CFL bulb I ever bought - mainly as a novelty back when they first came out about 10 or so years ago. That bulb has thousands of hours on it and still runs today in a timer-connected living room lamp that stays on 8 hours a day. I paid around $30 for it back then before the race to the bottom started and everybody wanted to make CFLs as cheap as possible. I'm hoping to get a similar life span out of the $40 Philips LED bulbs I've been buying lately.

Had a low wattage (9W) CFL in my "home invasion light" (one lamp that has a timer plugged into a UPS, with a failed circuit alarm) for about 6 years with no problems (probably lasted that long because it wasn't switched on/off much; it was on from 1 hr before sunset to one hour after sunrise, 365 days). Replaced it with an LED 75-watt equivalent that Amazon put on sale for $16. Lots more light, less electricity, hopefully a 10-12 year life.

Saw the 65 watt-equivalent recessed LED at Home Despot, the same ones you got. Got one, installed it, quite pleased with it. As the CFLs in the ceiling recessed lights fail I'll replace them with the LEDs. Hopefully they'll continue to get cheaper.

All the lamps in my study have used LED bulbs for 2-3 years now (for the same reason that there's less waste heat for the AC to fight), and I'm quite happy with them. The light colour/quality beats CFL's hands down. For the rest of the house, I plan to convert to LED lighting as I upgrade each fixture. Since the kitchen has one of those old circular fluorescent bulb fixtures, that's probably going to be first on the list.

If you've got track lighting or recessed lighting, it's not usually necessary to replace the whole fixture - there are LED bulbs for most of those, now. In fact, they're easier to find than the standard screw-in type.

I have a bunch of the LEDs now and I prefer them to CFLs anyday. I have no central air so I prefer not to use incandescents due to the waste heat they produce.

I did notice that the LEDs are not to be used in restrictive enclosures as excessive heat can shorten the life expectancy. The packaging recommends use in open 'lumaires' only. For now the glass is off my light fixtures, leaving the LED bulbs exposed. I will be changing to light fixtures that allow air flow as I renovate.